I like to remind my fellow Iranian-Americans to distinguish these two expressions and do not ever confuse the two. Don’t feel bad though because many Americans make the same mistake. I am not a linguist, but perhaps the confusion has something to do with the wiring of the brain and wrong interpretation of certain phrases in certain categories. It may even have a fancy name. I do know however, that the reason such mistakes become pandemic in America, has a cultural explanation. I recall an expression I was taught in Iran when I was in fourth grade that went, “Two friends are like two hands that should wash off the dirt off of each other.” What a wonderful lesson. According to that we were taught not take offense when we were corrected by ohters, but even thank them. Later on in America I found out that in most cases it is not polite to correct others and it was their right to be wrong. What a nonsense interpretation of respect!
I have seen several writers on this site who use “I could care less” when they should say “I couldn’t care less.”I had contemplated to write this for a long time, but I did not do it till tonight when I was watching CNN and heard Lindsey Graham-one of the gurus of coservative Republicans saying “I could care less” about some issues! That triggered me to write this. Does that mean that people like Lindsay Graham have to do with educating the world?
Thanks for reading this. Ali A. Parsa, Ph.D. But it did not take a Ph.D. to figure this out!
